


Wayward Carleigh

by MrsWhozeewhatsis (OxfordCommaLover)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dad!Dean, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Other, Platonic Relationships, Wayward Daughters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 08:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6072781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OxfordCommaLover/pseuds/MrsWhozeewhatsis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean rescues Carleigh from a djinn, and she starts a new life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wayward Carleigh

**Author's Note:**

> This is a personalized one shot for one of my little lovelies, @walking-encyclopedia-of-fandom, who was most patient in waiting for this! This request gave me a chance to stretch my writing muscle a bit, since apparently, I’m a hopeless romantic! Special thanks to @leviathanslovedick for beta reading!

Dean had saved you from a djinn, not that you had thanked him for it. No, when you had woken up, you had wailed and beaten on his chest like a child throwing a temper tantrum in a grocery store after being told there was no candy. Dean had just held you tightly, though, knowing how you felt because he'd been there, too. He had stroked your hair and rocked you quietly until your tears finally dried up.

When Sam had found out you had nowhere to go, he had been the one to suggest that you could camp out with them in the house where they were squatting until you were healthy enough to go back to your life. You hadn’t had much of a life at the time. You were barely 17 years old, you’d been on the streets for over a year, having run away from the group home a few too many times, and there was no family left for you to run to. You’d made somewhat of a life for yourself on the streets. You had become good at dumpster diving and petty theft, and knew when to go to the shelters for your own safety.

It had been Dean’s idea for you to return to the bunker with them when he figured out that the djinn hadn’t kidnapped you. You’d gone willingly.

_“Everything you’ve ever lost, everyone you’ve ever loved, Red, I can give it all back to you.”_

_You rolled your eyes at the tired nickname you’d earned because of your curly, auburn hair. “Sounds too good to be true.” You’d been on the streets long enough that you knew a hinky deal when you heard one. “What’s the catch?”_

_The creepy woman with the mesmerizing blue tattoos just shrugged. “It’s not real. But it will feel real, and that’s what matters, right?”_

_You stared her down, trying to give her your toughest façade, but deep inside, you pictured singing with your family, learning to play the guitar, and the brightly decorated box where you stored all your drawing supplies. “What’s in it for you?”_

_“What do you care? I’m offering you everything you want and a warm bed, to boot,” she sneered before turning and walking away. Over her shoulder she called to you. “You coming?”_

You had run to catch up to her.

She had been right. She had given you everything and everyone you had ever loved and lost, and when Dean had woken you up, you had cried and begged for him to let you go back to sleep, but he had refused.

That night, curled up in Dean’s sleeping bag while he took the musty old couch, you had felt like you were home for the first time since your parents had died. Dean smelled like your dad. It was a mix of car smells like engine oil and gasoline, along with possibly his aftershave or deodorant that made you homesick. You had breathed in the scent in his sleeping bag and actually relaxed.

You hadn’t been asleep for long when the first nightmare woke you screaming. Dean had held you and rocked you again, telling you that you were okay and nothing bad was going to get you ever again. Just like you had done with your dad so many years before, you had curled into Dean, enveloping yourself with the comfort he had seemed only slightly reluctant to give.

When you had arrived at the bunker, Dean had set you up in your own room. As you set down your garbage bag full of belongings, you had looked around at how nice everything was in disbelief. A sick feeling had grown in your stomach. This had to be too good to be true.

_Keeping your eyes away from Dean, you tried to be as casual as possible. “So, what’s all this gonna cost me?”_

_“Nothing, Carleigh. It’s no trouble. We just want to get you back on your feet. And this is just until we can find someplace better for you.”_

_Tears sprung to your eyes, and you actually smiled. You crashed into Dean’s arms, and he held you tightly, petting your hair like your dad used to do._

_“Thanks, Dean.”_

_“No problem, kiddo.”_

After you’d been at the bunker a few days, you’d finally learned to really trust the Winchesters. You had been healing from your injuries, and putting on some weight after having been starving for too long. Dean and Sam had both talked to you a lot, learning your story and explaining their situation. Although you enjoyed chatting with Sam, he reminded you somewhat of your mother, the librarian, you always gravitated towards Dean. Your dad had been a mechanic, and had taught you the basics of car maintenance, and Dean was surprised when you were able to help him change the oil in the Impala with little instruction from him. When you all had movie nights, it was Dean you fell asleep against on the couch.

You had only been with the Winchesters for a couple of weeks before they drove you up to Sioux Falls and introduced you to Jody Mills, and the two girls staying with her, Claire and Alex. Jody had joked that she might as well put up a sign, Mills Home for Wayward Girls, but she had smiled when she hugged you and welcomed you into her home. You missed Dean and Sam, but got into the habit of texting with Dean almost every day.

You ended up sharing a room with Claire, but it was okay, because the two of you got along well. Where Dean and Sam had explained just enough about the supernatural world to answer any questions you had, Claire filled in the massive holes the Winchesters had left. The two of you had a lot in common, and you and Claire became partners in crime, looking for hunts nearby while trying to juggle homework and chores. Neither of you got along well with Alex, since she was more of a girly girl and you and Claire were happy in ripped jeans and flannels. That all changed when Alex’s boyfriend turned out to be a vampire and he tried to kill you all with the janitor. Something about fighting off monsters together really helped you all bond.

The pesky vampire attack was why you all ended up in the bunker for spring break. Hunter training.

Jody and “her girls,” as she called you, plus another sheriff, Donna Hanscum, were all in Kansas to learn more about monsters and how to kill them. Alex had fought coming along, saying that she already knew more than she wanted to, but after what had happened with her boyfriend, Jody wasn’t willing to let her out of her sight. Jody also wanted Alex to get some self-defense training, because “every woman needs to know how to protect herself, even if it’s just from a self-entitled jerk.”

At first, you thought Donna was a marshmallow. The way she talked, her constant smile, and her dumb jokes all added up to a backwoods hick in your mind. She soon showed you differently when she took you down swiftly during your first sparring session. She was smart and quick, but kind when she needed to be, and it wasn’t long before you loved her as much as you loved Jody. (It didn’t hurt that you could tell Dean was sweet on her, too!)

By midweek, you were happier than you’d been since you’d lost your family. Your favorite time was dinnertime, when everyone would gather around the small table in the kitchen and talk about anything but monsters. Even the angel, Castiel, would come to dinner each night. He was recovering from something that nobody wanted to talk about, but Claire seemed to be especially glad that he was okay. When you all went into town for supplies, you saw him and Claire having a serious chat in a café while you were looking for some new clothes.

It was during that trip into town that you thought you might lose everything.

Everyone had split up. Sam and Jody went one way, Dean and Donna went the other way, Cas and Claire headed to the café, and that left you and Alex. Since you were still short on clothes that weren’t denim or flannel, Alex offered to go shopping with you and help you pick something out for an upcoming school dance you weren’t sure you wanted to go to. You were still new to the school, and pretty far behind everyone else your age, but Alex convinced you to buy something to wear in case you changed your mind. Seizing on an opportunity to try and get to know your foster sister better, you agreed.

When you had both found something to buy, you headed up to the register to pay and nearly got knocked over by the sales lady's perfume. Whatever it was, you couldn’t believe anyone would ever buy that scent, much less wear the entire bottle at one time! You held your breath until you’d paid for your items, and then sped out of the store for fresh air. Once you were outside and away from the window, you doubled over and took heaving breaths to clear your lungs. When the scent was mostly just a bad memory, you leaned against the wall and took out your phone to text Claire.

You had barely typed three letters, “OMG,” when hands grabbed your phone and bag and tried to rip them from your grasp. You held on tight to the bag, but only got pulled behind the guy who was trying to steal it from you! He quickly dragged you into the alley beside the store, then turned to you and tried to push you away!

The guy really picked the wrong week to mug you, since you’d just spent three days learning how to defend yourself from things a lot worse than muggers.

In three hits and a kick, he was on his knees in front of you, groaning.

Adrenaline surged through your system, and you thought about everything you were about to lose. _I should have just let him take it. I won’t need a dress for the dance if I’m in jail for beating a guy up in the street. Shit shit shit shit shit! They said to only use what we learned on monsters, not people! Oh God, Dean’s going to kill me, Jody’s going to kick me out, and I’m going to be back on the street again!_

In a blind panic, you straightened yourself out, and ran back to the front of the store, just in time to see Alex coming out of the door. She gave you a wide smile and immediately started talking about the clerk’s perfume, taking your arm and pulling you towards the café where Claire and Cas were hanging out.

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. Both Dean and Jody asked you if you were okay, and each time you plastered on a fake smile and told them you couldn’t be better. Underneath it all, though, was the constant worry that somehow you’d be caught, and you’d lose everything.

The worst finally happened during dinner.

Jody’s cell phone rang, and halfway through a call that was mostly “uh huh’s,” and “that’s right’s” from Jody, her eyes turned to you and you wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

_This is it. This is how I lose everything._

Not wanting to hear the words come out of Jody’s mouth, you got up and ran to your room to pack. _Maybe if I just leave quietly they won’t come after me and send me to prison._ You had your bag half packed before there was a knock on your door.

“Carleigh? What’s going on?” Dean’s voice normally calmed you, but this time it just struck fear into your heart. “Why’d you run out on dinner? You feeling okay?”

Dean pushed the door open farther and saw you packing your bag.

“Hey, hey, hey! What’s going on?” Dean pulled your bag from your hands and dropped it on the bed, then grabbed both of your hands in his and tried to make you look into his eyes. You kept your eyes on the floor, though, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes when he learned the truth about you. Before he could question you further, Jody walked in with her phone in your hand.

“If you can hang on a second, officer, she’s right here.” Jody pulled the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker phone. “All right, officer, I have you on speaker phone. Tell me again what’s going on?”

Jody didn’t sound mad, but you were too afraid to look her in the face and find out.

“A local boy was brought in by his mother with bruises and contusions from an assault. He wouldn’t talk, so we tracked his movements and found him on security cameras. From what we saw, he walked past your girl, she followed him into the alley, and a minute later, she leaves the alley. Five minutes after that, the boy limps out looking like he went three rounds with Ali. We checked with the store and got your girl’s name from the credit card receipt. Now, if he had done something to her, then it wouldn’t be a big deal, but this was an unprovoked attack on the boy—“

You couldn’t hold your tongue any longer. “Unprovoked?? He tried to mug me! He grabbed my phone and my bag and pulled me into that alley! He tried to push me down so I’d let go, so I kicked him in the knee and hit him until he let go of me!”

You finally looked up at Jody and Dean, and suddenly Dean’s arm was around your shoulders and Jody was grinning at you.

The voice on the phone wasn’t impressed, though. “Well, the view we have from the security camera shows none of that, and without an eyewitness, we have nothing to corroborate your story, young lady.”

Panic rose in your throat and tears welled up in your eyes.

“Well, then, you’re in luck, officer,” Dean said. “Because I saw the whole thing, just like she described it.”

You looked up at Dean with your eyes wide and jaw slack. You knew Dean was lying. He had been nowhere near the clothing shop. Why would he lie?

The rest of the phone conversation flowed over you like water, but you heard very little of it. Dean’s arm was securely around your shoulders as you heard plans for you both to go into town and make statements the next day. In between negotiations for scheduling, Dean rubbed your arm and kissed your head, and you fell into him with a quiet sob and wrapped your arms around him. He held you tightly like he always did, stroking your hair softly until Jody hung up the phone.

Jody put the phone back in her pocket and pushed a misbehaving curly lock of hair from your face where it was buried in Dean’s shoulder. “Carleigh, why didn’t you tell us what happened?”

You sniffled and wiped your face with your sleeve before you answered. “I got in a fight. I didn’t have a scratch on me. He was a human, not a monster. I thought you’d be mad that I hurt an innocent person and kick me out.” You hid your face further into Dean’s chest and you felt him sigh around you.

“Carleigh, kiddo, he was a kind of monster. He tried to mug you, for Pete’s sake! You were defending yourself, and from what I heard, it sounds like you did a great job of it, too. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Jody’s voice was just as comforting as Dean’s hug, and you pulled your head away from his shoulder to look at her.

“Really?”

Dean chuckled. “Kid, I’m damn proud of you! From the sound of it, you took him out in nothing flat! I almost feel sorry for the little piece of crap!”

All three of you chuckled, and when Dean’s hold loosened on you, you gazed up at him fearfully. “Why did you lie and say you saw everything? You weren’t there. You didn’t see it. You don’t know that I’m telling the truth.”

Dean looked down at you fondly. “I do know that you’re telling the truth because I know you and I trust you. Besides, we’re family. Family looks out for each other.”

You smiled and pressed your face back into his shoulder to hide your tears. Dean let you hide for just a moment, then cupped your face to make you look him in the eye. “But from now on, no hiding things from us. We deal with everything together, okay?”

You nodded and smiled, and Dean hugged you again. When Dean finally let you go, Jody grabbed you and hugged you, too. After you cleaned up your face, all three of you headed back to the kitchen to finish dinner.

Half an hour later, as you finished eating Dean’s famous chili, you looked at the smiling faces seated around you and grinned. It was weird and unconventional, but this family was yours, and that was all that mattered.

 


End file.
